3b — Marxist explanations of age inequality

Question 1

castles and kossack age reserve army

Answer 1

Bourgeoisie use proletariat workforce as a reserve army of labour to prevent other workers from demanding high wages

the more workers available, the weaker the workers’ bargaining position
lower demand for workers, lower wages, higher profits
workers become disposable
Uber is MASSIVE but makes their drivers use their own cars so higher profits

Bourgoisie encourage competition: divide and rule strategy
Owen Jones: media divides “deserving” and “undeserving” poor.

YOUNG PPL USED AS RESERVE ARMY OF LABOUR

1/3 of young people lost work due to coronavirus

Question 2

castles and kossack (scapegoating) age

Answer 2

mugging 1970s 🇬🇧
MORAL PANIC 😱 about black men being muggers
—> complete over-exaggeration created by media, causing huge unnecessary concern over public safety

UK Capitalism faced social + economical unrest in early 70s
—> creating moral panic helped capitalism in 2 ✌️ ways
1. SCAPEGOAT: immigrants blamed, not flawed capitalist system
2. JUSTIFICATION: gives government excuse for suppressing certain groups

resulted in extreme labelling 🏷

YOUNG PPL SCAPEGOATED

Question 3

Marx age

Answer 3

YOUTH R EXPLOITED
—> zero hour, minimum wage jobs. e.g. esti still has to buy lunch even with her extremely low wages 🙄
—> old ppl have accumulated wealth but young people cant get on property ladder 🪜

Age identity of youth made harder by CAPITALISM 😕

proletariat are usually young

Question 4

bourdieu age

Answer 4

High capital —> maintaining privilege —> high capital
(social, cultural, material)

SOCIAL: old boy network, sutton trust, roberts
CULTURAL: Bernstein elaborated/restricted code, Gillies
MATERIAL: LSE

Cultural dominance likely to belong to middle age